The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 14 (continued), By Epicninja1
The saber-tooth grunted, shifting the weight of the bundle on his back. The passageways of the fortress seemed mostly empty, and he couldn't think why. Maybe he was dreaming.... Turning a corner, he bumped into a vulture, and a low-ranking one by the looks of it. "Hey," he said at once, steadying the bundle on his back again. "Do you know where everyone went?" The vulture blinked, and the saber-tooth waited. Five minutes later, the vulture replied: "Sir Fangar took most of the army to search for a saber-tooth named Strainor. They said he was acting strangely...missing meetings...." The vulture looked the saber-tooth up and down. "You look pretty close to the description they gave, actually...." The saber-tooth nodded and walked past the vulture. Out searching for one Strainor, were they? Well, he could wait.
Sir Fangar hissed impatiently. "Those two don't make a sliver of difference!" he snarled, indicating Dark and Avian. "Seize them at once!" Two saber-tooths turned and slanted their eyes savagely; trails of ice ran across the roof toward the newcomers. Looking on, Strainor knew what was about to happen. He also knew that, enemies or not, he couldn't let it happen. Just as Fangar was turning back to face him, he dove toward Dark and Avian, tackling them out of the path of the ice. Instead, it struck his shins, crawling up and then exploding into shards. Avian and Dark tumbled off the roof, but quickly they spread their wings and flew up; and a second before they disappeared into the night sky, Strainor saw Dark fumble with something before exclaiming and dropping it. The thing tumbled end over end through the air, down toward where Strainor stood.... "That's enough!" Fangar roared, grabbing Strainor's arm. "We'll have much to talk about on our return to the fortress! "Sakar! Scromulus! Freeze the eagle and take her with us!" And as they left the Lion Temple, no one realized that Strainor had actually caught what Dark had accidentally dropped....
The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 15, By HyperSonicOne
As Avian and Dark flew to the back of the Lion Temple, Dark was grinning. He had guessed what had become of the potion. "What are you grinning about?" Avian inquired. "Nothing." Dark said, still grinning.
Meanwhile, Sir Fangar was busy talking to Strainor. On second thought, screaming was more like it. "Why didn't you just freeze them all? You were practically invited into the Lion Temple!" You have no idea, Strainor thought. He didn't listen to much more of Sir Fangar's rant after that though. He was too busy thinking about what he had grabbed at the lion temple. . . "That does it! You are officially, no longer a part of this army!" And with that, he picked Strainor up, and sent him flying out of the ice fortress. "Well that was easy," he said to himself. Then he picked himself up, and set off toward the Lion Temple.
Finally, thought Strainor. Freedom... ...? He stopped, hating the hint of a question that lingered on the edges of his thoughts. He looked back and found a ridge of ice sprouting from his footprints in the snow. He gritted his teeth. Was it really possible that his condition was growing worse? Or was his control over his powers slipping from inattention? Freedom. Freedom. Moments ago, it had seemed wonderful. But now reality was cutting through his being like Sir Fangar's Glacior. What would he do with this ice that was still part of him? Why had he wanted to be free at all? Don't think like that! he reprimanded himself. If your decisions led you here, were they--they were the right ones. Wincing, he forced the ice back into the ground. Then he reached down and pulled out the glass vial Dark had dropped at the Lion Temple. Not for the first time, he wondered what it contained. Every time he tried to study the fluid inside, his eyes were somehow guided away. The glass of the vial was almost painfully warm in his hand. Drinking the fluid was probably not a good idea; but then, what else would it be for? Would Dark have simply given it to him under normal circumstances? Could it be what some commanders on the side of fire called a potion? Most were supposed to treat physical ailments or sicknesses, but some were rumored to have supernatural effects. And if the vial did hold a supernatural potion... ...all the heat radiating from it couldn't mean anything good for him. One sip might melt the ice that kept him alive. Thankful that there was a stopper on the vial. Strainor secured it to his belt and continued on toward the Lion Temple.
When Sir Fangar came to the door of his chambers, he gaped in horrified surprise. "Strainor?" he whispered. "Why are you here? And what happened to your ice--your skin--you're--whole?!" The saber-tooth with the bundle on his back smiled. "Don't worry, Fangar--I can explain everything...."
When Strainor arrived at the Lion Temple, he met double the usual number of guards at the foot of the stairway. All eight of them growled and crossed their spears at his approach. "Leave, Hunter!" shouted one. Strainor let out a growl of his own. "I just need to see Avian and--and his raven-eagle friend," he said, "then I'll be on my way." "You can't fool us that easily," said another guard. "Go back where you came from!" Strainor bared his long teeth. "I can't! My own tribe's tossed me out! Just send out Avian and his friend if you have to!" "Right, like we'll leave you alone with them for two seconds!" "Don't listen to him--lying's at the roots of his frozen family tree!" "Yeah, he'd probably freeze Avian and Dark the instant--" Strainor roared in frustration. "Look, all of you! All I want is a few words with Avian and--Dark, is it? If I'm that bad, what's stopping me from freezing you right now!?" "The fact that if you wait, you can do more damage!" "Too right!" "Get away!" Furious, Strainor extended a hand to freeze the guards, then thought better of it at the last second. Icicles dropped from the tips of his claws and shattered on the ground. In this case, Ice wouldn't get him what he wanted. Forcing down his anger, he roughly swiped the glass vial from his belt and held it out. "Can any of you tell me what this is?" he asked the guards. They, in turn, stopped yelling and peered at it with genuine interest. "That does look like something of Dark's," one of them whispered to another. "Could it be stolen...?" "Whatever the case, we should tell him..." "And if he wants to come out, tell him to bring a few orbs of fire Chi...." "I can hear you, you know," Strainor growled impatiently. One of the guards started up the Temple steps; another cleared his throat and turned toward the saber-tooth. "It seems that at least part of your wish may be granted," said the guard severely. "Don't try any tricks now."
The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 18, By HyperSonicOne
The guard walked up the steps into the Lion Temple. He found Avian and Dark on the roof again. The guard cleared his throat. "Yes?" Avian answered without looking at the guard. "There is a saber-tooth at the gate, and he insists on seeing you. He claims to have some sort of potion of Dark's..." Upon hearing this, Dark immediately took off and flew towards the gate. Avain instead walked down through the lion temple with the guard. Dark had already let Strainor into the temple.
"What is this? Is it an act of friendship, or another ploy to get rid of me like the guards?" Strainor asked. "Of course not." Dark said. "Avian found me and told me about you. This, my friend, is a potion that can restore an animal to it's natural state." Strainor suddenly had a thought. Do I believe him, or do I get rid of it...? The thought passed quickly, and he took out the vial. "I don't have anything more to lose." He said, as he took the stopper off the vial, and drank.
-last edited on Mar 30, 2023 17:19:07 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Mar 30, 2023 17:18:51 GMT
The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 19, By HyperSonicOne
Suddenly, from Dark's viewing point, he saw a bright flash. As it got brighter, he yelled: "Duck for cover!" and dived behind a pillar. Then the light disappeared, and standing there, was a complete Strainor. "Agh," he moaned, and then dropped to the ground. "Uh, was that supposed to happen?" The guard asked Dark. "It depends." Dark replied. "Considering he's been asleep in ice for thousands of years, he might be a little fatigued." All the guard said in return was, "Oh." Avian walked over and lifted Strainor up, and then carried him to the nearest bedroom. It was Laval's. "Guard, is Leonidas on duty?" Avian asked. "No, he was helping some of the other tribes." said the guard. Avian nodded. "Dark, watch him and if Laval comes, first you have to disarm him, and then attempt to explain." Avian smiled as he said this, and jumped straight out the window.
He flew over towards the Eagle Spires, looking for Eris. He found her in the library, in the completely ridiculous section. "I guess the book about the Phoenix isn't so crazy now, huh." she said to Avian as he flew in. "Follow me," he said. "I want to show you something." so he took off again, and Eris followed him. They made it to the Lion Temple, and dropped down at the bridge. As they walked into Laval's occupied room, she tripped over Sir Punch-alot, who was laying on the floor. Then she rubbed her eyes. "I'm not going crazy again, am I?" she asked, surprised. "No," Avian started, "Dark made an animal restoring potion. It seems to have worked on Strainor here." Then Strainor sat up. "Ugh. Where am I?" he said. "In the Lion Temple. You took Dark's potion, and it seems to have worked." Strainor got up and walked over to a mirror. He was clearly surprised at seeing his own self. "I--I'm... whole!"
Strainor blinked and looked at his hands. They felt...warm. Dark smiled. "It is a little hard to swallow, isn't it?" Strainor put a hand to his chest. Underneath, he could feel his heart beating. "In more ways than one," he said quietly. "For a second after I drank that potion, I thought it would melt me for sure." "I know my trade," said Dark simply. "So...what now?" Avian asked Strainor. "You've lost your ice...and you've been thrown out of your tribe. Are you still our enemy?" Strainor tried to call upon his powers of ice. They didn't respond. He shivered, suddenly feeling more vulnerable. "Well?" Avian pressed. "I don't know," said Strainor, looking at himself in the mirror again. Avian, Dark, and Eris exchanged glances. "You could join us," said Avian carefully. Strainor turned to face them all. His blue eyes were swirling, changing their color to a muddy yellow. "There's no place for me here," he said. "You saw how the guards treated me...at least, I think you saw. And Fluminox...I was Fluminox's natural enemy even before the whole ice thing." "But all that doesn't have to stop you, does it?" said Avian, throwing caution (and subtlety) to the winds. "You came here, right? You insisted on seeing Dark, didn't you? You make it sound like you don't want to join us, but I think you do." Strainor closed his eyes and muttered something that sounded like, "Old habits...." The tension of decision settled on the room. Avian and Dark's eyes were fixed on Strainor, and Eris's eyes flicked back and forth between the three. Then the sounds of a scuffle came from the hall. "Can't you just let me pass?" said an exasperated voice. "Actually, I can't," came the guard's voice. "You'll have to hand over your weapons first...." "Come on! This is my own room!" "Sorry, but I'm under orders--" "From who?" "Uh--Avian and Dark." There was a silence. "Are they in the room?" asked the first voice, more calmly. "Well...." said the guard.
The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 21, By HyperSonicOne
"Strainor, I suggest you hide for now." Strainor simply nodded, and hid behind a pillar. Avian opened the door, and there stood Laval. "About time! What's up with all the security?" Avian and Eris exchanged a glance, one that said: Should we tell him? "Alright, I'll tell you Laval, but for now, this stays between us. Strainor, come out!" Strainor reappeared from behind the pillar. Laval reached to draw his sword, but Avian had already disarmed him. "He's friendly now. However, if you do anything to him, I'll have the guard drag you out of here." Laval put on a regal face. "I am the prince! You can not order the guards to do anything!" Avian only smirked. "I'll be right back." Avian said, launching himself out the window. He came back with Strainor's speedor. Strainor was surprised. "How did you get that?" "Sir Fangar ordered the mammoths to throw it out. I simply turned it on and took it back here. I figured you might want your speedor." Strainor walked outside (to the surprise of the guards) and jumped on his speedor, riding towards the Ice Fortress.
Laval stared after Strainor in complete disbelief. Then, slowly, he rounded on Avian. "What have you DONE!?" he roared. Avian took a deep breath and said simply, "I brought back his speedor." Laval growled in frustration. "No, what you did was let him get away! "Guards! Get to your speedorz and catch that saber-tooth!" Again he turned to Avian. "And you--come with me." "Now, hold on a minute," said Dark, stepping in. "You're not taking him to the holding cells, are you?" "And what if I am?" snapped Laval. "You can't stop me. You have no authority here, in the Lion City. Observing a hunter might've been interesting, but that doesn't make it the right thing to do. Experiment's over." But Laval had gone a little too far. Dark bristled, eyeing the lion coldly. "You're wrong," he said. "I can stop you. And I will." And with that, Dark launched himself onto Laval, and the two of them went down. And in the confusion of the moment, neither of them noticed that Avian had already slipped away.
As it turned out, he'd gone up to the roof again to think. Even he had been a little surprised by Strainor's sudden departure. But part of him knew that no matter what Strainor was doing, it wouldn't put him or Dark in harm's way. At least, not purposely. From where he stood, he could see Strainor's speedor enter the trees, with around a dozen lion speedorz not far behind. "Don't let them catch you," he whispered. Then he spread his wings and dove off the roof....
Strainor rode as he had never ridden before. Instinctively, he knew he was being followed; but he also knew that he would reach the Ice Fortress long before his pursuers. And, sure enough, after weaving through the last few trees and pulling his speedor to a halt in front of the fortress, there were only the faintest sounds of pursuit from the jungle behind him. But as he climbed the fortress stairs, he forgot he was being chased at all in the face of a new discovery: there were no guards anywhere. The Ice Fortress was empty.
The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 23, By HyperSonicOne
Strainor's head was already spinning with thoughts. Where is everyone? Then he realized that he actually felt cold. This is strange, he thought to himself. Then he saw Sir Fangar's trophy room/office. He noticed the frozen animals had been taken out of the room, but all of Sir Fangar's battle plans were still there. He took them, then ran out of the fortress, and got on his speedor. He decided to ride back to the Lion Temple and give the plans to Avian. As he rode, he saw no sign of the guards. They must have returned to the Lion Temple, he thought.
Meanwhile, Avian had flown to the Phoenix temple, and explained the situation to Flinx first. Then he and Flinx told Fluminox, and soon they were in the Phoenix bastion, flying towards the Lion Temple. In the temple, Dark and Laval were still brawling, but as soon as Avian flew in, Strainor came racing in as well. "What are you doing here?" Laval roared. "I saw the battle plans from Sir Fangar's room in the Ice Fortress, which was empty, and they are planning a surprise attack on the crescent!" Avian ran outside, and roared, calling the tribes of Chima together. Once they were there, he told them all to go to the crescent. Soon, they were all there, all holding fire chi (including Strainor, more info in chapter 25). Then, every single one of the hunters appeared, and they started attacking the crescent. But something was wrong, and Strainor realized it first. "They found some way to strengthen their ice powers!" He shouted. Then, sir Fangar jumped up and sent Avian flying with a powerful kick. "Behold, our new power; Ice chi."
"Wh--what?!" Strainor shouted as Sir Fangar closed in on him. Sir Fangar snorted, swinging his Glacior. Strainor sidestepped the halfhearted swipe. "You heard me," said Fangar. "We--" Suddenly, he stopped. He looked Strainor up and down carefully, then stepped closer and whispered in his ear. Strainor's head swam with confusion at what he said: "Sorry, Strainor, I thought you were the other one...how did you get here so fast?" Strainor blinked, at a complete loss for words. Around them, the battle raged, but its effects never once touched them. "Well?!" hissed Sir Fangar. Strainor's heart pounded, and he was so unused to the feeling that he actually feared it would burst. He could feel Fangar's cold breath on his ear. Then, in a sudden, weird strobe of light, Strainor was knocked flat on his back. Immediately he sat up again, looking around in a panic. The battle was still going on (sort of), but Sir Fangar had disappeared. What?! thought Strainor. What had just happened? ...I thought you were the other one.... Strainor shook his head to clear it, then looked up to find Stok the saber-tooth captain staring down at him. "Well, what have we here?" muttered Stok, pulling out a simple, yet still dangerously sharp-looking, short sword. Strainor groped at his belt, but it didn't do any good: he had no weapons with him. Or did he...? Slowly, he reached a hand behind his back. "We're winning, you know. Thanks to y--the ice Chi," Stok said, addressing Strainor directly. Then he lowered his voice: "What are you? You can't be here unless...Nowstranore...changed...." None of this was making any sense to Strainor. "Was I supposed to hear that?" he asked haltingly, still subtly reaching behind his back. Stok's eye twitched. "Hear what?" Strainor's fingers finally closed around a fang tied to his back; with a jerk, he tore the string that held it in place and threw it at Stok as hard as he could. Then he leaped to his feet and ran away, back toward the crescent....
The Quandary of Fire- Chapter 25, By HyperSonicOne
Strainor ran all the way back to the crescent. It didn't look good. The hunters were devastating the fire tribes. They brought the bastion down. They destroyed the front wall of the city. They were even beating the phoenix. This is not good, Strainor thought as he ran over to Avian. He was blocking Dark from attacks. Strainor then saw why. Dark was busy examining an orb of golden chi. Strainor quickly figured out what was going to happen. Avian is going to use it. Dark handed it to Avian and nodded. Avian ran over to the field, and as he passed Strainor, said "You might wan't to stay back." Once he was in front of the hunters, he took a deep breath, and plugged in the orb of golden chi.
Editor's note: Unfortunately, chapters 26 and 27 aren't present on the archive site. On the bright side, at least the final three chapters, 28-30, are.
Doing my best to fill in the gap between chapters 25 and 28, it seems Avian plugging golden chi, perhaps among other things, gave the anti-Ice Hunters' side a massive boost, and the fire/inland tribes ended up defeating the Hunters.
Down below, the Hunters had all but lost. They desperately tried to regroup, to pull back, to start another offensive attack; everything failed. But there was still a twist yet to come.... Avian and Eris lighted down on the battlefield. Everywhere, Hunters were fleeing or being tied up. Ice was being melted. Foltrax and his sons were starting to repair the Bastion. But even though the day had been won, Avian couldn't help feeling that they had hit a sort of dead end. Sir Fangar had-- "Sir Fangar!" said a voice, and Avian turned sharply to find Dark rushing toward him. "Avian," he said, "Sir Fangar's gone! I was going to tie him up when a saber-tooth--" "He may have called me a snipe, but I am loyal to the end," muttered a nearby voice. Both Dark and Avian turned to look, and there stood Stok, apparently unnoticed by anyone else, a hand over one eye. "This saber-tooth," said Dark irritably, "Stalled me for one second and Sir Fangar grabbed Strainor and--" He broke off when Stok said, "Take me!" to empty air. "What--?" said Dark, starting toward him, but Stok cackled wheezily to himself and disappeared. Dark turned back around, his eyes wide. "Did you see...? Just like Fangar!"
Strainor winced as Fangar's Glacior prodded his back. "Come on, Nowstranore! Not much longer!" Strainor risked a glance over his shoulder. "Again--how did you get us here?" he growled. "And why do you keep calling me Nowstranore?" Fangar looked up and around at the tunnel they were in with satisfaction; but before he could answer, Stok and another hauntingly familiar saber-tooth appeared out of the darkness ahead. "There you are, Wilbeestranore!" said Fangar. "I've got him!" Strainor looked carefully at the saber-tooth Fangar was addressing, but there was no mistaking him, as impossible as it seemed. He gasped. "That's right," said the saber-tooth, looking Strainor in the eye and smirking. "I'm you."
